Success Story: Pizza Hut

Partner Information

The facility: 16,000 sq. ft.
Annual savings from energy efficient upgrades: $2,820
Annual kilowatt hour savings from energy efficient upgrades: 37,600 kWh
Payback period: 0 months
Pollution prevented: 65,000 lbs

Service and Product Provider

Gainesville Regional Utilities

“This ENERGY STAR partnership promotes a market-based approach to energy conservation and environmental protection that allows businesses to be more competitive and more apt to change the way industry views environmental awareness — from a burden to a competitive point of difference.”

—Bill Stasiewicz
Managing Partner, Pizza Hut of Gainesville

All eight of the Pizza Huts in Gainesville, Florida, make great pizza, but now, thanks to Managing Partner Bill Stasiewicz’s commitment to energy efficiency, the Pizza Huts are also creating great savings in energy costs. The combined energy savings for the Pizza Huts totals more than 300,000 kWh annually. That’s more than $20,000 in cost savings yearly. A representative example, one of the Pizza Huts is saving 37,600 kWh annually, or about $2,820 each year.

On the Menu: High-Efficiency Lights

Most of the energy savings were accomplished through the installation of high-efficiency lighting. T-10 lamps replaced T-12 fluorescent lamps. T-10s were chosen because they can use the existing ballasts; when the ballasts need replacing, more efficient T-8 fluorescent lamps will be installed. Highly efficient compact fluorescent lamps replaced the standard incandescent lamps in the facilities.

All the exit signs were replaced with light emitting diode (LED) signs. LED exit signs are a good choice: they are far more efficient than incandescent exit signs, and their service life is 100,000 hours compared to the 1,000–3000 hour service life of incandescent exit signs. Not only is Pizza Hut saving money on energy, but it is also saving labor costs, since the LED exit signs require far less maintenance.

A Slice of Good Energy Sense

The Gainesville Pizza Huts have also saved energy costs by tuning up their buildings. Building tune-ups often involved no-cost or low-cost steps to prevent wasting energy. At the Pizza Huts, thermostats were calibrated, coils and filters were replaced, hot water tanks and pipes were properly insulated, hot water settings were reduced, and a maintenance program was scheduled.

These steps cost very little, but they add up to significant energy savings.

Good Advice = Good Energy Savings

Bill Stasiewicz sought out expert advice before he embarked on his energy efficiency plans. Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) provided both a building energy survey and a commercial lighting survey to determine the most economical and efficient ways for Pizza Hut to both improve the appearance of its facilities and to save on energy costs. GRU even helped Pizza Hut tune-up its buildings, free of cost.

In addition, the lighting retrofits were financed by GRU interest-free on monthly utility bill payments for 12 months. Since the payments were less than the energy savings, Pizza Hut received all of its energy retrofits at no cost — in fact, it had a net gain each month, despite the fact it was making payments!

Future Plans

Pizza Hut of Gainesville plans to use its savings to finance other more comprehensive energy saving measures, including installing 14 SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) HVAC systems. The 14 SEER systems that Pizza Hut will employ is a top of the line system that will ensure big energy savings in the future, especially in an area of the country as hot as Florida.